When Argowon Best Picture of 2012, I had the distinct thought that AMPAS finally got it right. That after all the years of giving the Oscar to the wrong film – anybody want to talk about Crash? – and despite the slight backlash against Argo for its changes to the story to make it more cinematic, AMPAS stood strong and did the right thing.

The essential question with Shakespeare in Love is this: By winning the Oscar for Best Picture, did it deprive, i.e. rob, Saving Private Ryan of it’s just reward? Yes, there are other questions we can ask, and other rabbit holes we can dive down – plot summary, anybody? But all of those other questions and discussions will pale in comparison to the big one.

(NOTE: This post has been slightly modified to serve as the Best Picture Project entry for 2012)

Since I started the Best Picture Project– so many years ago now it’s becoming somewhat pathetic how long it’s taking me to complete it – I’ve posted every year at Oscar time about the Best Picture race and my preferences for the films in the race. In some ways, the post behaves very much as a true Best Picture Project post behaves and in that it tends to evaluate all the films and stands as my take on all the films. Since that’s the usual plan, I’ll do my best to make sure that this one can be seen that way.

So here it is, the Best Picture Race 2012, as seen through the eyes of the Best Picture Project. Continue reading →

In honor of both Lance Armstrong admitting his Tour de France victories were a sham, and Manti Te’o getting caught up in some weird catfish-nonsense about his online-girlfriend, it seemed a good time to run out a list of movies you could draw from to program your Hoax-themed film festivals this weekend. Continue reading →